Third Battle of the Core
The '''Third Battle of the Core '''was a monumentus victory for the Dravimosian Empire over the Mech Network. Faced with many casualties over the last month thanks to the disastrous Battle of Salida and the almost complete extinction of the Meredian race, Dravimosian morale was at an all time low. Scout reports indicated that the first of the Mech worldships, Installation 13, was headed for Grand Alliance space. Well aware of the damage such a warship could cause, the Dravimosians scrambled Battlegroup Crixus and half of Battlegroup Dravimos to meet the threat. The Regenetech 23rd Fleet and the Caborr 5th Fleet were also present. Course of the Battle The Grand Alliance forces reached the battlefield first, a chaotic system in the core of the Galaxy. In that system was a large red giant star and a black hole. After deteching a sizable number of ships in that system, Installation 13 and its defense fleet changed course to obliterate the enemy before continuing. When the worldship entered the system, it saw what had appeared to be a massive Dravimosian fleet stuck in the gravity well of the black hole and attempting to escape. Rather than risk chance and give the fleet a chance to escape, the worldship opted to ensure the fleets destruction and began to engage. But it was not actually the Grand Alliance fleet, as the GA fleet was on the other side of the system behind the red giant star and as such undetected by Installation 13. When the worldship and its fleet began to fire upon the fake fleet, actually made up of derelict ships electronically disguised as real warships, the real fleet sprung into action. Taking advantage of the element of surprise, GA ships bombarded Installation 13's engines, making it largely unable to move. With inertia already in motion, the worldship was powerless to stop its movement into the black hole's gravity well. The rest of the GA fleet waited with baited breath as Installation 13 slowly began to break apart because of the black hole's gravity. The worldship was not completly destroyed, but it was torn to pieces and scattered across the system. Some pieces even flew back and hit other Mech ships, damaging or destroying them. With the worldship dealt with, the rest of the GA fleet made short work of the remainder mech ships. Even so, some got away, bringing news of the catastrophe to other Installations, Aftermath The battle heralded one of the most important victories for the Grand Alliance in the Seventh Galactic War. The destruction of Installation 13 forced the Mech Network to seriously reconsider their plans towards the Grand Alliance. As a result, the Mechs joined the peace negotiations started since the Battle of Salida a month earlier. These peace negotiations resulted in a fractious, yet evident, peace that put the galaxy at rest for a few years. The Dravimosian Empire was estatic with the victory, now confident that they could handle even the best that the Mechs could throw at them. In addition, scavenging fleets examined what was left of Installation 13 and found crucial parts like memory banks, processors, and the core to be either intact or lightly damaged. It took years to sift through all the data, yet the Dravimosians learned so much about Mech history, culture, technology, tactics, and dispositions towards species. The core of Installation 13, essentially the brain of the worldship, is held within the Dravimosian Imperial Archives. The Mech Network, on the other hand, saw the defeat as a major flaw in its approach to battling organics. Now aware that the organics are much more creative than at first thought. worldships and even regular Mech ships made careful notice to steer clear of black holes in order to prevent the same thing from happening again.